The Moth Diaries

One sure sign it's time to transfer out of your upscale boarding school: when the creepy new exchange student sees blood coming out of your nose, and erotically licks it off her finger.

"The Moth Diaries" scores one for the public high school system, but not the vampire genre. The horror-drama from "American Psycho" director Mary Harron is way too serious for its own good. The best vampire movies are some combination of sexy, scary or campy. This one is 100 percent earnest, and the hazy mysteries taken from Rachel Klein's book aren't strong enough to keep the audience engaged.

Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is a student at Brangwyn, apparently designed by the same architect who installed the blood elevators in the Overlook Hotel. Already off kilter from the suicide of her poet father, Rebecca's sanity is further challenged by icy new student Ernessa (Lily Cole) who plays piano, knows three languages and doesn't gossip once in the 82-minute movie. Total vampire, right?

The story crawls from there, with clumsy exchanges between the young actresses and conservative directorial choices that distance audience from action. Even the professor played by Scott Speedman, with his Ph.D. in hunkiness, fails to register an engaging scene.

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